NCC Daily

If you are going to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, then you no longer own yourself. He has ultimate rights; he has lordship of your life. So, you no longer belong to yourself. Trust in Jesus that he will take care of you. This is the way of the cross. 

I encourage you to spend some time this week to ask your Heavenly Father to reveal who He truly is to you, just as His spirit revealed the identity of Jesus to Peter. 

My prayer is that the Lord would continue to renew our sight to see him more fully, face to face and that he would give us the eyes, patience, and questions to fall in love with him in a new way today. Jesus is inviting us into a relationship of perfect sight and perfect restoration.

So long as we are flesh, our perspective is temporal, and we see, literally, through our earthly eyes. Even the disciples of Christ who followed him and witnessed all of his miracles firsthand still heard and saw Jesus’ words through their earthly perspective; a HERE and NOW perspective.

This morning I am going to continue our series diving into the Gospel of Mark and share a couple of thoughts I found really impactful to me while specifically going through Mark 8 that tells the story of Jesus feeding the 4000.

May we remember the Lord’s example and look to Him in all that we do, following His leading by faith in oneness with Him.

As I studied the scripture we are focusing on today, Mark 7:24-30, I realized I could relate to its message completely for one simple reason: it is about a mother doing whatever it takes to find a cure for her child.

God has given us the Spirit to reside in our hearts, to transform us, and to empower us to honor and glorify the Father.

Let’s pray today, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors; that God would help us be genuine followers of Him, not just followers of routine.

When we don’t understand how God intervenes and shows up in our lives, we are slow to recognize who he is and how he chooses to show up when we are desperate for deliverance. Sometimes, when he does show up, we don’t even recognize him. 

When you read this passage do you read it like I have before—that they were traveling and the rest was coming when they get to the shore? Instead, I think Jesus flips it and the boat ride is the rest, the rest that will get them ready for the miracle! 

Just like this is a hard story, I want to speak some hard truth to you today. But it comes from a place of love. Just like I believe God loves you exactly where you are and for who you are, I also believe He loves you too much to leave you there. 

It's important to note that there is a unique dynamic that takes place between God's power and our belief. That's where the miracle is!

After a little searching the disciples found five loaves and two fish. Jesus took what they brought, held it to heaven blessed it, and created a meal for everyone present and literally had leftovers. Jesus put his foot in that meal. For he is the one that provides, he is the one calls us to a place of reconnecting, rest, and to enjoy what he provides.

Having faith may often seem like we have to blindly follow. However, it’s not that we just have to mindlessly trust, but instead we need to ensure that we are shifting our focus in the right direction. Rather than looking at the hopeless situation, listening to the lies, or believing what the world says, we must fix our eyes on Jesus - the One who is trustworthy and faithful.

The Lord, your healer, wants to bring you sozo. He is praying it over you, calling you to it, and preparing the way for you to receive it. He wants to bless you with a supernatural peace through the dunamis of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s take some time today and think about the spaces in our hearts that we’ve put the do not disturb sign on. Give that space to Jesus. Allow him to do His loving work in you.

Hope is here! If you know someone that needs hope, send them this podcast, or better yet, step out of your boat, with confidence, take the word of hope with you, and offer it! Perhaps you’re seeing it on your prayer walk. That person that seems like they have lost all hope needs a word of hope from you! 

As we continue to prayer walk our neighborhoods, and we surrender ourselves to God, He opens up our eyes to where he is at work and where he desires for us to work. And then something happens. We begin to realize he gives us authority of healing and restoration in our neighborhoods.

How do we activate peace within when a storm of life arises? By faith in the Living Word, the Prince of Peace, rather than the storm and the devastation it brings. And faith without obedience is dead. We believe and do what He speaks by His Word and the voice of His Spirit.

The parable of the mustard seed anchors me back to the way of the Kingdom. The way in which God works is upside down and unexpected. Often, it’s through small acts of obedience and faithfulness that gives way to significance and impact around me. The way of the seed reminds us that it’s not through striving but through intentionally of practicing long obedience in the same direction and listening...

The light should be the joy, the peace, the trust, the love, and the authenticity of who you are as a follower of Jesus. Let your light shine today as you go, and as you sow.

As we go about our day this week, what if we asked Jesus continually, what are you doing in the world? What are you doing in this situation, in this conversation? How is your kingdom breaking forth here and now? And how do you want me to participate? 

As we continue in this series of Mark and even as you just read through the book of Mark, and during this prayer walk challenge, as we pray over our neighbors, colleagues, family, and those around us, how many of us have given up on those around us? How many of us have been overwhelmed to the point that our soil doesn’t yield the results we intend? I wonder how many of us have given up on ourselve...

I want to encourage us as a community to live a life that includes. Together, let’s ask God to help us see each other… see ourselves… the way He sees us. And may we respond the way God does.